The Alberta Prosperity Project celebrated Tuesday morning after announcing that Elections Alberta had approved its application for a petition to hold a referendum on Alberta independence, with signature collection slated to begin on Jan. 2. "Today is a day that will be remembered in Alberta’s history," reads a statement posted on the APP website. "The Alberta Prosperity Project (APP) has received official confirmation from Elections Alberta that our Citizen Initiative Petition application (2025-CIP-10) – A Referendum Relating to Alberta Independence – has fully satisfied all requirements under the Citizen Initiative Act.".Elections Alberta approved the proposed referendum question on Monday, and it will complete the final steps by verifying that APP's group has a valid chief financial officer before issuing the petition on Jan. 2.APP's referendum would ask, "Do you agree that the Province of Alberta should cease to be part of Canada to become an independent state?""This is a huge day for every Albertan who believes in Faith, Family, Freedom and in Alberta’s right to chart its own course," wrote petition applicant and APP CEO Mitch Sylvestre in a message attached to Tuesday's statement. "We have cleared the first major legal hurdle. Now the real work begins – and we need every patriotic Albertan to stand with us.".Once a petition is issued, the APP and its associates will have 120 days to secure 177,732 verified signatures to trigger a referendum on Alberta's independence, which could be held in Fall 2026.The APP put out a call for volunteers on Tuesday morning in preparation for the signature collection period. "The petition could begin as early as January 2, but we need to be ready the moment it’s issued," their statement from Tuesday reads. "The most effective way to reach fellow Albertans is face-to-face, neighbour to neighbour.""We are urgently calling for volunteers to step up as door canvassers in every community across the province. Your conversations at the doorstep will inspire thousands to sign and join the movement for a free and independent Alberta.".Monday's announcement that Elections Alberta has approved the question recieved a significant support from individuals on the pro-independence side of the movement. .Conversly, individuals who expressed concerns about Alberta independence exemplified the fight that lies ahead for the APP as they attempt to not only collect 177,732 signatures on a petition, but win the referendum vote that would follow. .A divide among UCP members was noticeable at the party's AGM in November, as calls for Alberta independence and a "sovereign Alberta inside of a united Canada" were both met with a mixture of cheers and boos.This is the APP's seceond time applying for a referendum petition. Their first question was dismissed by an Alberta court in November, after the judge rulled that the question was unconstitutional. The APP then had to reaply for a petition after the provincial government passed Bill 14, which made changes to the Citizen Initiative Act and required that every petition application that had not been issued a petition prior to Dec. 11, must submit a new application. .Round two of the petition process for the APP will be different un Bill 14, however, as the courts can no longer prevent a petition because it views the question as unconstitutional.“The purpose of what we're doing here is intended to create a permissive environment, a simpler environment, a more streamlined one for individual Albertans who have important matters that they want to put forward to other Albertans to be able to do so,” said Justice Minister Mickey Amery.Instead, a question may still be submitted to a referendum, regardless of its constitutionality. However, the Alberta government will not be required to apply the referendum results if it believes they would be unconstitutional. The provincial government has said that it will allow an Alberta independence referendum to be held if a group can gather enough signatures on its petition; however, it has not said whether it would be willing to apply the results if the referendum vote ends in favour of independence.
